Feeding mechanism for elevators



May 4 1926.l 1,583,349 H. F. GORSUCH FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATORS Filed July 29. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 abbina,

lll

Patented May 4, 1926.

UNITED, ySTATI-:.s

or efA'LIoN, oiaro,y

HOWARD r. GonsUcH,

' messa 'Assis-Non 'ro THE. cALIoN IRON f wonxs a MFG. co.; oreALIoN, omo, A coRroRArIcN or oHIo. e

FEEDING MEcANisM ron nLEvA'roRs..

Application ined my 29, 1925.V sefiai No. 46,693'.-

To all whom `mrc-,y concern: Be it known thatI, HOWARD F. GonsUCI-r,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Galion, in the county of Crawford and State v of Ohio,` have invented certainfnew and useful Improvements in Feeding Mechaof which the following understood in its general features, .it may be stated that in a screening or handling mechanism the material to be screened orh'andled is received into which the ,lower end extending elevator frame extends, this Velevator frame carrying an, endless elevator provided with-*,buckets, lifted from lthe pit by the. buckets, carried upward, and then discharged'into a series of screening drums or otherwise treated It is desirable in mechanism of this kind to provide for an even the buckets or elevatorl buckets from becoming so as to prevent the filled to overflowing at one time while at another time the buckets will be running with very littlei-nthem.

In my prior` patent, I illustrated a mechanism of this character comprising a. reciprocating conveyor or chute into which;l the material was discharged and which by its -reciprocation caused the'material totravel forward and be discharged into a spout and fromthence tothe elevator buckets, and I showed means whereby the chute could be reciprocated 'by'p'ower taken Ifrom the ele-- vator driving mechanism.y

The object of the present invention is to improve upon the chute or horizontal conveyor construction by providing improved means whereby this oscillatingy conveyor is supported for oscillation, andvto `provide im;- proved means whereby this conveyormay be oscillated which will `permit the'conv'eyor Patent #lfllma connected In order v that this mechanism may be v.

certaintype of standard:

in a pit disposed, below, a railroad track` p of Ian v,upwardly thel material being Y feed v of material to oscillating mechanism to Vbe driven from the lower pulley -of the upwardly extending conveyor and do Vaway with the Vnecessity ofusing other means' for transmitting power thereto, this construction` further. permittingoffthe, sprocketjcliainbeing from time to y l time tightened to take upslack.

A further object isto provide amechanisin oft-his vcharacter wherein the conveyor oscilylatingmechanism` may. 'be readily disconnected from the Ydriving `mechanism for the upwardly extending conveyor y thereto by means of a clutch. A. still lfurther objectis to. provide` improved means at the rear end of the reciproeating conveyor whereby as' Vthe .conveyor or .operatively `moves rearward the` material on the conu veyor. will beshifted forward' or toward the ldischarge end of the conveyor, and to rovide anv improved detailedconstruction yfor this `purpose including Va fixed pla-te against which the-bulk of the material bears and an adjustable plate yieldingly held in engagement with eating conveyor. y .t

Other objects will appear in' the vcourse of the'following description.

f My invention is" illustrated in the accompanying drawings, K y y plan view of an elevat- Figure l is a top the bottom of the reciproing and conveying structure constructed in l accordance withinvention;

Figure 2 is a vertical ylongitudinal `sectional view ontheline 2-s-2 of Figure 1; y Figure 3 isa transverse sectional view on the line 3.-3 of Figure 2;

yFigure 4,- is a, fragmentary longitudinalv sectional view of there'arend Referring yto thes nates a pit -or equivalent structure having a relatively narrow and relatively shallow extension 1v1-*which extends beneath the railroadrails y12. A wooden platform 13l coveredup'on its upper f acewith steel plates and resting upon-the ties ,14 Yis disposed on each side 'of' the shallow portion ll'of the pit and extends partially thereover, leaving a` longitudinallyk extending opening kl5 across which the rails l2 extend. ,n Extending downwardinto the main porico tion ot the pit is an elevator frame, designated generally 16 and which may be of any suitable construction, and this elevator frame carries at its lower ends the sprocket wheels, rollers or equivalent elements 17 over which the endless belt or other like conveyor 18 passes. The lower wheels 17 or rollers are mounted upon a lower conveyor shaft 19,`which in turn is driven by the conveyor ielt itself. The elevator or conveyor is driven from a head shaft mounted at the upper end ot the frame. Any suitable means may be used for this purpose.

The side walls of the pit 11 are delined by the railroad ties 20, and extending over the tops of these railroad ties are the Vmetal plates 21. Each of these plates is downwardly flanged, as at 22, so that these plates form the guards for the reciprocating trough This trough 23 hasawidth greater than the distance between the guards 22 and has upwardly extending sides 24 which extend upward on the outside faces ot the guards l trunnions 29 formed at the 22 and then extend outward and downward so as to form tracks 26, as they may be called, which rest upon rollers 2?' mounted upon the upper series ot. railroad ties 20. Any number of these rollers may be used but the r-eciprocating trough 23 is entirely supported upon these rollers and reciprocates beneath the guards 22, the forward end of the trough projecting outbeyond the pit 11 and into proximity to the lower portion of the conveyor 1S.

It is obvious now that the material discharged into the opening 15 will be discharged into the reciprocating trough and as this trough is reciprocated the material will be forced forward. The trough is reciprocated by means of an equalizer bar 28 which is pivotally connected to the bottom ot the trough at the middle of the equalizer bar, the equalizer bar extending outward beyond the trough on each side and having ends of the equalizer bar. Connecting rods 30 have their heads 31 at the .inner ends ot' the connecting rods engaged with said trunnions and the rods extend toward the main conveyor and are connected to cranks 32 mounted upon a transverse shaft 33. This transverse shaft carries upon it t-he drive sprocket wheel 34 which is driven by a sprocket chain 35 which passes over a sprocket wheel 3G on the. shaft 19. This sprocket wheel 36 is connected to the shaft 19 by means of a clutch 37, the movable member means ot the clutch operating handle 38. The shaft 19 is supported by end supporting members 39 and these end supporting members in turn support a chute 40 which discharges onto the endless conveyor 13.y The extremity of the overhangs this chute and discharges thereinto.

' tightener of which is operated bvYV reciprocating conveyor the plates 48 and Lesse/is The frame 16 of the main conveyor is held in lixed relation to the walls 20 by means of bars 41. Mounted upon one of these bars 41 is an idler sprocket wheel 42 which engages with the sprocket chain 35 and acts as a belt therefor. This idler sprocket wheel is mounted upon a lever 43 pivoted at 44 upon the bar 41 and the opposite end ot this lever from theidlersprocket wheel being arcuate and provided with a series of openings 45 through which a. pin or screw may be passed engaging the brace 41 so as to thereby hold the sprocket chain tightener in adjusted posit-ion.

Extending across the space between the rear ends of the ties 2O is a supporting plate 46 which bears against one of the rails 12, and disposed immediately in advance of the supporting forwardly extending guides 47 which carry the stationary end plate 48 which extends downward from a. point immediately beneath one ot the rails 12 to a point almost touching but spaced fr m the bottom of the conveyor trough 23. Immediately behind this stationary plate`48 there is an adjustable plate 49 which extends down into clos-e contiguity to the upper face of the bottom of the conveyor trough 23 and yieldingly bears thereagainst. To this end the plate carries an angle iron 50, and mounted beneath the plate 49 are a plurality of supporting fingers 51, the forward ends of which extend loosely into perforations in the rear ends are engaged passing loosely through fingers and carrying the springs upward on the rear ends of the lingers. These lingers tulcrum upon a transverse angle iron 54. Thus the plate 49 is urged downward yieldingly againstl the bottom ot the trough and the springs 53 act to take up wear.

Vith this construction, the rear or adjustable end plate is urged downward against the' bottom of the reciprocating trough by means ofthe spring 53 and the tension of these springs may be adjusted by tensioning the nuts on the lower end of the bolt 52. A steel plate 54L is provided to close the rear end of the pit 11 rearward of the outer rail 12 so as to prevent anyone accidentally falling into this pit.

The operation' otthis mechanism will be obvious. Assuming that the main elevator or conveyor is operating, the clutch element 37 is thrown into engagement with the corresponding clutch element on the shat't` 19 and this drives the shaft 33 and the crank 32 by vertical bolts 52 the rear ends of the which, through the connecting rods and the equalizer bar 23, cause the reciprocation of the conveyor trough 23. As the conveyor trough moves rearward, the material willbe caused` to feed .forward by striking against plate are the downwardly andV angle iron 50. l.The

A49 and as the conveyor 53 bearing Vll() trough moves forward the impetus will car-` i ry afcertain amount of material forward 1nat its middle to the trough bottom 23 so that when the erec-tor sets this plant up the screening plant, including the elevator and the feeder, do not have to come on an exact line in order to get the connecting rods to fit and there will be no more stress on one side than on the other when the device is working.

By driving the crank shaft 33 from the lower shaft 19 of the main elevator instead of operating the driving mechanism from a special driving pulley, as shown in Figure l of my prior patent, I very much simplify' t-he mechanism and provide for a readyl connection and disconnection of the driving mechanism for the reciprocating conveyor. Furthermore, I can easily apply a sprocket chain tightener to the mechanism. 'I he means for supporting the reciprocating trough is a considerable improvement over the mechanism illustrated in my prior patent, inasmuch as the trough is now hung upon rollers, as it were, andthese rollersY are disposed above the trough andV practically housed from dirt, dust or other material which is likely to interfere with the free operation of the trough on the rollers. Furthermore, this mechanism is much more simple than that illustrated in my prior patent.

l. A feeding mechanismof the character described including a conveyor formed to provide parallel, downwardly extending side walls held from movement, a reciprocatable trough-shaped bottom having side walls ex tending up exteriorly of the fixed side walls and at their upper margins outwardly flanged, rollers ixedly supported exteriorly l of the side walls of the trough-shaped bottom and upon which the flanges rest, and means for reciprocating the bottom.

3. A feeding mechanism of the character described including parallel, downwardly extending side walls held from movement, a reciprocatable trough-shaped conveyor extending across the lower edges of the side walls and extending up exteriorly to the side walls, the upper margins of said troughshaped conveyor being outwardly flanged and then downwardly iianged, supporting members mounted on each side of the conveyor, and rollers mounted upon the supporting members and upon which the outwardly extending flanges of the troughshaped conveyor rest.

3. A feeding mechanism. of thecharactei described including a reciprocatable troughshaped conveyor, an end' plate extendingward into approximate contact with the boti tom of the conveyor;

4:. A feeding mechanism of the character described including fixed, depending, side walls, a trough-shaped conveyor mounted below the side walls and including a bottom plate having upwardly extending sides exteriorly of the fixed side walls', means for supporting said trough-shaped conveyor for reciprocating movement, downwardly and forwardly extending guides at'the rear ends of said trough-shaped conveyor, forward and rear end .plates disposed in said guides, the forward end plate being stationary and having its lower edge spaced from the bottom of the trough-shaped conveyor, the rear end plate being adjustable and having its lower edge in approximate contact with the bottom of the trough-shaped conveyor.

5. A feeding mechanism of the character described including a reciprocatable troughshaped conveyor, a stationary end plate extending down into the conveyor and having.

its lower edge spaced from the bottom thereof,` an end plate disposed rearward of the first named end plate, and means yieldingly supporting the second named end plate with its lower edge in approximate contact with the bottom of the conveyor.

, 6. A. feeding mechanism ofthe character described including a reciprocatable troughsha Jed conve or a stationar end late extending down into the conveyor and having its. lower edge spaced from the bottom thereof, an end plate disposed rearward of the vfirst named end plate, means yieldingly supporting the second named end plate with its lower edge in approximate contact with the bottom of the conveyor including downwardly depending bolts,compression springs mounted upon the lower ends of the bolts, supporting members having their rear ends `mounted upon the bolts and resting upon the compression springs, the forward ends of the supportingv members having openings, and pins extending from the second named plate and extending into said opening.

7.A feeding.mechanism of the character described including a reciprocatable troughshaped conveyor, a stationary end plate extending downward into' the conveyor and having its lower edge spaced from the bottom thereof and an end plate extending parallel to the iirst named end plate but held from movement with the trough, and means yieldingly urging this second named end plate down against the bottom of the trough.

8. A feeding mechanism of the character described including a reoiprooatahle trough- Shaped conveyor, an end plate extending downward and forward into the conveyor at an inclination thereto, and a supplementary end pla-te disposed parallel to and behind therst named end plate, and means supporting this supplementary end plate against movement- Wth the conveyor but yieldngly urging the supplementary end plate downward and :forward against the bottom of l0 the trough.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature.

HONARD F. GGRSUCH. 

